As violence in Syria worsens, Caritas continues to aid refugees as they stream into the neighbouring countries of Jordan and Lebanon.

In Jordan, Caritas is distributing food and essential items like diapers to hundreds of Syrian families in Mafraq and Zarqa. Caritas Jordan also arranged a free one-week medical campaign for Syrian refugees to provide blood pressure, sugar level, and ultrasound tests, in addition to consultations and medication.

In Lebanon, many Syrian refugees are living with host families who are already struggling to make ends meet. There are concerns that Lebanese communities hosting Syrian refugees have reached their limit and cannot absorb more. In northern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, job opportunities are already inadequate and living spaces are scarce. The addition of tens of thousands of Syrians seeking work has only increased the pressure on these areas.

Caritas Lebanon is providing food parcels with rice, lentils, beans, tuna and more to Syrian refugee families, as well as to impoverished Lebanese families who are hosting people or are affected by the refugee influx. Caritas Lebanon also distributed hygiene kits with supplies like soap and towels, along with blankets and bedding.

Because many refugees’ homes in Syria were destroyed by bombs, their future is uncertain even if the conflict ends. “The situation has drastically evolved this week, with thousands more Syrian refugees flooding in,” says Najla Chahda of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre.

“All of them are so anxious about their unstable situation,” says Chahda. For now, she says, “Hope is keeping them alive.”

Caritas Internationalis is the global confederation of 164 Catholic organisations working on behalf of the poor. It is the arm through which the Church delivers its moral mission to help the most vulnerable and excluded people, whatever their religion or race.